About Thompson Brewery

The Thompson brewery, which opened in 1990 in a house built 85 years earlier for a Civil War veteran, is the longest-running post-Prohibition brewpub in Salem. A succession of brewers with big, strong personalities created a number of beers with big, strong personalities. All of which satisfies the big, strong personalities of Thompson's regulars just fine, thank you very much.

Black Widow Porter, featuring a healthy dose of black licorice, is one such brew of distinction. The Widow (as well as a sweet woodruff-infused version known as the Black Widower) still ventures out into the light every year around Halloween. Beer behemoths such as Old Cthulu, Romulan Imperial Ale and Pole Ax are all big ideas that grabbed hold and found voices in the Thompson's old stainless Grundy fermenters.

The Thompson brewery, which opened in 1990 in a house built 85 years earlier for a Civil War veteran, is the longest-running post-Prohibition brewpub in Salem. A succession of brewers with big, strong personalities created a number of beers with big, strong personalities. All of which satisfies the big, strong personalities of Thompson's regulars just fine, thank you very much.

Black Widow Porter, featuring a healthy dose of black licorice, is one such brew of distinction. The Widow (as well as a sweet woodruff-infused version known as the Black Widower) still ventures out into the light every year around Halloween. Beer behemoths such as Old Cthulu, Romulan Imperial Ale and Pole Ax are all big ideas that grabbed hold and found voices in the Thompson's old stainless Grundy fermenters.